Read Tick Tock (Storage Ghosts) for Free Online Page B

morning, I’m parched.”
    “Oh!
Where are my manners!” Lynne said. “I’ll put the kettle on.”
    Eddie
indicated towards the basket that he’d brought. “There’s some special tea in
there, very expensive. Why don’t you use that? Then I’ll know you’ve accepted
my offer.”
    Lynne
picked the basket up and headed towards the kitchen.
    Tom
invited Eddie to sit down, all the time giving him a hard look. Tom said, “What
about the loan papers?”
    Eddie
leant back on the sofa and waved his hand. “I’ll shred them when I get back to
my office. It’s a lovely home you’ve got here. How’s the business going? Is
there much money in the watch repair and clock business? Have you thought of
turning it into one of those pound bargain shops? You’ve got a great position
on the high street, you’d make a fortune.”
    “We’re
doing okay,” Tom said curtly.
    The
ghost Tom said to Grace, “I’m starting to remember what happened. I knew that I
didn’t trust him, I didn’t believe him about writing the loan off. He was up to
something.”
    Grace
nodded, there was an evil vibe coming from Eddie, he looked too smug.
    Lynne
returned with a tray of tea things. “That expensive tea has an unusual smell.”
    Eddie
smiled and said, “It’s supposed to. Wait til you taste it, it’s to die for.”
    Grace’s
breath caught in her throat. What was he up to?
    The
ghostly couple watched their former selves as they sipped at their teas.
    Ghost
Lynne said, “Eddie isn’t touching his tea, I never noticed at the time.”
    Ghost
Tom said, “He’s put something in the tea, some sort of poison. I didn’t like
the taste at the time but I was too polite to say so.”
    Eddie’s
smile grew as he watched Lynne and Tom sip their drinks. He said, “Oh, I nearly
forgot.”
    He
took out the slim red book that recorded his debts. He opened it up. Grace
quickly walked around the room so that she could see the names in the books.
Some had lines drawn through them. Her pace quickened as she recognised some of
the names from the newspaper clippings that Clare had pinned on her walls. The
ones that reported how local business people had died in ‘accidents’.
    Eddie
took a pen out and made a great show of crossing out Lynne and Tom’s names.
Underneath he wrote, ‘Loan repaid’.
    Grace
looked at the vision Lynne and Tom. They had glazed looks on their faces, their
eyes were drooping. What was in that tea?
    Eddie
suddenly stood up and said, “My gran used to have a house like this. It had a
cellar. I loved going down there. Does yours have a cellar?”
    Tom
gave an unsteady nod.
    “Could
I see it? It would take me back to my childhood,” Eddie said. He clasped his
hands together like an eager child.
    Lynne
got to her feet and wobbled. “Oops, I think I stood up too quickly.”
    Tom
stood up and caught her arm. “My head feels strange, I must be coming down with
something.”
    “The
cellar?” Eddie prompted.
    The
ghost Tom and Lynne followed the people in the vision. Grace joined them.
    They
watched in horror as Eddie joyfully pushed the couple down the cellar steps.
    Then
he collected all evidence of the tea including the cups, tucked the basket
under his arm and left the house, whistling as he went.
    The
vision faded. They were back in the shop.
    Tears
ran down Grace’s face. “He did murder you.”
     
    Chapter 13
     
    There
was a shocked silence as the three of them stood still, nobody knew what to
say.
    Finally
Grace said, “Your Clare is right. He murdered you, he most likely murdered my
parents, and there must be many more deaths going by all the newspaper
clippings that Clare has.”
    Tom
said, “I can’t believe he could do such an evil thing. You’ve got to stop him
Grace.”
    “How?
I can’t take him on, he’s evil. If he hasn’t been caught by now he must be
covering his tracks well.”
    “You
have to find a way,” Tom insisted. “You can’t let anyone else die.”
    Grace
looked at the floor. Tom